What a Tour showdown: Tadej Pogacar loses all his jerseys and is still the big winner

The first six stages of the Tour de France have been completed – and what a spectacle they delivered. Tadej Pogacar, as expected, delivered the big show. His rival Jonas Vingegaard was among the defeated, but he wasn't the only one.

Tadej Pogacar wasn't in a bad mood, even though he'd just had to hand over all the jerseys he'd won at the Tour de France. The yellow jersey went to Mathieu van der Poel, the green jersey to Jonathan Milan, and the polka-dot jersey to his teammate Tim Wellens. Reason for frustration? Not for the Slovenian, who had dominated the first six stages of the Tour de France. In his own way. In Brittany and Normandy, the favorite had made a real racket, repeatedly attacking, and delivered a resounding slap in the face to his biggest rival in the fight for overall victory in the individual time trial on stage 5.

That had to be enough for now. Pogacar and his UAE team controlled the wild attacks on the sixth stage. Had they wanted to defend all the jerseys, especially the yellow jersey for the overall leader, they probably would have done so. But why? Why take on full responsibility so early when you can be sure that a man like Mathieu van der Poel will ultimately play no role in the fight for the coveted jersey. The Dutchman is a classics specialist; the profiles of the early stages perfectly suit him, and he'll quickly disappear in the high mountains.

van der Poel has serious fears

Pogacar and his colleagues know this and didn't do everything they could to prevent the loss. Even though it ultimately turned into a surprising drama of seconds. Only one saved van der Poel for the overall lead. UAE didn't care. "That takes some of the pressure off our shoulders and saves us energy. We want to reclaim it at some point," said Pogacar's German assistant Nils Politt: "The gap isn't big. We'll manage it." Of course they will, possibly as early as this Friday. Then the next big thing is coming up. The stage finale on the feared Mûr-de-Bretagne will suit the explosive Pogacar perfectly.

"Hats off to Mathieu, that was a great race," said Pogacar at the finish of the thrilling sixth stage, "but there's another good finale for me on Friday." Even the exhausted van der Poel enjoys the climb, which has gradients of up to 13.2 percent. Four years ago, the 30-year-old experienced his first golden Tour moment here, winning the stage and wearing yellow for the first time. Now he enters the stage as the leader, but not as the favorite, and he has serious concerns: "It was a tough day. I was close to cramping. I never do that. I had to give it my all. It will be difficult to win with my legs on Friday."

No matter how it turns out, van der Poel can already consider himself one of the winners of the Tour. The same applies to Pogacar for the first week, but that doesn't concern him. He has only one thing on his mind: bringing the yellow to Paris. Others want that too. Especially Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. But are they really capable of doing it? Things aren't looking good at the moment. Vingegaard suffered a heavy defeat in the time trial, which caused considerable disappointment within his team. Their hopes are now turned to the high mountains, where the Dane, it was thought beforehand, might be a millimeter stronger than the Slovenian. But is that really the case?

Great disillusionment at Vingegaard

Before the start of the Tour, Vingegaard thought he was in the best shape of his career. In the race against the clock, that wasn't the case. "We were hoping for more and didn't expect the big gap. I think Jonas didn't have enough power. It happened, and we have to deal with it," said Grischa Niermann, the sports director of the Visma Lease a Bike team, after the first major disappointment. "I had a pretty bad day, that's how it is sometimes. I just didn't have the necessary legs," Vingegaard said after the debacle, adding: "The Tour is long, of course, so I'm still motivated and continue to believe it's possible."

Another contender for yellow is Evenepoel. Or was he? That the double Olympic champion was able to perform so well in the time trial was no surprise. The crucial question now is: How strong is he in the mountains, and how strong is he when the battle for the yellow jersey heats up. In a major ntv.de Tour interview, former pro Rick Zabel didn't believe the Belgian could make a decisive impact. "At the recent Tour de Dauphiné, he was clearly inferior in the mountains in a duel with Pogacar and Vingegaard. I was surprised; I would have expected him to be stronger, also because he's lost more weight."

Is Red Bull experiencing its Team Telecom moment?

Meanwhile, veteran Primoz Roglic, who is actually the captain of the ambitious Red Bull team, is among the biggest losers. With a deficit of 2:36 minutes, he currently sits tenth in the overall standings, one place behind his German teammate Florian Lipowitz. Lipowitz, who made headlines over the past two days after a bumpy start to the tour, could be revisited. If he improves, the captaincy question could be revisited. For now, however, everything remains as planned. "We're not in the high mountains yet, so we'll continue as before," said Sporting Director Rolf Aldag.

"I hope that when Roglic sees that he has a really strong man in Lipowitz, it will be similar to what happened with Bjarne (Riis) and me, and that he will say: 'I'll ride for you too,'" said Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champion, on ARD. During his triumph in France, Ullrich was actually planned as a valet for defending champion Riis. But because Ullrich was significantly stronger, Riis let him go. The moment when Riis gave Ullrich a quick nod, he stormed off – and won – was legendary. This story will not be repeated (yet). Because there is one person who is insatiable: the paint cannibal Pogacar.